


A Special Occasion

by belivaird_st



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-21 01:54:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16150085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/belivaird_st
Summary: Carol and Therese are both invited to Dannie’s engagement party leaving one of them discovering something shocking about the wedding ring...





	A Special Occasion

Dannie’s House, Buffalo NY

_October 1953_

**xxxx**

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” Therese murmured from the passenger seat, peering out through her car side window at the twenty-something amount of people gathered around outside the patio deck of Dannie Elroy’s Ranch style home. She could easily spot Dannie McElroy with his arm around his soon-to-be wife, Louise, who were both surrounded by a group of people. They were all smiles with beers in their hands, soaking up all the attention. In just two weeks, they were going to get married.

“You want to go home?” Carol spoke up behind the steering wheel, staring along at the party, too. She watched some of the men take a swig of their beer and the women puff out cigarette smoke and take a pull at their skirts. Carol didn’t seem to mind or care about leaving the engagement party in the first place. She didn’t know Dannie as well as Therese did. This early autumn evening, he had invited both women to come over and spend a few hours at his place for the special occasion.

“There’s Richard,” Therese responded, watching her ex-boyfriend playfully attempt to mouth feed one of the women a plastic bowl of maple walnut ice cream. The girl was short with wavy, sandy brown hair and a light dust of freckles. She wore a baby blue cashmere sweater with solid cream brown slacks and white tennis shoes. Therese watched her eyes crinkle up with delight as soon as Richard slipped the glob of ice cream into her mouth with a spoon. 

“If you want us to go, just say so,” Carol spoke up again, growing a little impatient now. She didn’t want to be in the car all day. Therese abruptly made her decision for them to stay a little bit. Carol’s right gloved hand had been holding the key throughout the entire time, but now she twisted and yanked it out; shutting off the Packard’s engine automatically.

They got out of the car and made their way over towards the party with everybody on the patio deck. Dannie’s brother, Phil, was the first person to witness their arrival and came over to greet them. He shook Carol’s hand and gave Therese a big, affectionate hug squeeze. As he left, Dannie and Louise made a beeline towards them to say hello and greet them with a welcoming embrace.

“I’m so happy you’re here,” Dannie gushed, looking directly at Therese. “Lemme get you ladies somethin’ to drink!” he held up his half-empty beer bottle in the air before pulling himself away from Louise, slipping past through some people. 

Louise, with her fluffy white-blonde hair and sparkly green eyes, looked like a mix between Hollywood actresses Anne Francis and Doris Day. She looked pretty in a long sleeve red cardigan sweater over a pale yellow dress and saddle shoes. She acknowledged both of Carol and Therese’s company and gave them each a polite smile and nod.

“How nice to finally meet you,” the girl said, holding her beer up with two hands. “Dannie has spoken wonderful things about you, Therese.”

 _All the times I’ve rejected him?_ Therese thought, but she only smiled shyly and pressed herself up against Carol’s shoulder. 

“Congratulations on the engagement,” Carol spoke formally. She thanked Dannie once he reappeared with two more beers and passed each bottle along clinking the glass. 

Therese took hers and swigged from it generously. She half listened to Louise babble about how deeply, and truly in love she was to Dannie, and what their plans were going to be for their honeymoon, and the possibility of having a few kids. 

“How many?” Carol asked.

“Four,” Louise replied, making Dannie pull her close to him and kiss her along her neck. “Two of each,” she giggled. “Two boys. Two girls.”

“That’ll be quite a handful,” Carol smirked.

“Oh yes,” Louise agreed. Dannie began to nibble the lobe of her ear, poking her gold earring with the tip of his tongue.

Therese gazed away and soon took notice of Richard coming towards them with the sandy brown haired girl following right behind him. They said their hellos and made their introductions. The girl’s name was Heather. She was a 22-year-old secretary at a dentist office.

“There’s ice cream. You want any?” Richard offered, holding out his bowl.

Both Carol and Therese politely declined and nursed their drinks. Heather began to discuss her infatuation and full-time obsession with Gregory Peck. She apparently wrote him several love letters and kept them locked away inside her writing desk drawer - never having the courage to mail at least one of them. 

Louise disagreed and thought Gary Cooper was better. She loved his dreamy eyes and his thin, stiff hair. 

At this point of the conversation, Therese grew bored. She sipped more of her beer as she watched Dannie pull something out of his pocket and held it up. “This is the ring that will soon lay upon my baby’s finger,” he sang out.

Louise squealed and quickly covered her eyes. “Dannie, no! It’s very bad luck for the bride to see her wedding ring before the ceremony!”

“That’s just an old, dumb superstition, Lou,” Richard rolled his eyes. 

“No it’s not! Put it away right now!”

Dannie laughed as he shoved the wedding ring back inside his trouser pocket, leaving Carol staring at it with utter disbelief. The ring had actually been _hers_ , when she was married to Harge. But she had given it to a pawn shop months ago and didn’t think twice of it since then. Now it was back, but in Dannie McElroy’s pocket. He must’ve bought the ring at the shop and would slip it through Louise’s finger two weeks later.

Therese noticed the waxy, pained expression on Carol’s face and reached over to give her wrist a comforting, gentle squeeze. Carol shook off her daze and patted Therese reassuringly, not sure if she should tell her later about the ring and the truth behind it.

**xxxx**


End file.
